FFWD Weekly
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| Theatre by Lori Montgomery House of Pride At first glance, House Opera might look like any other drag show you’ve seen – or maybe you haven’t – a hundred times. But that’s only at first glance, and only if the first glance is a cursory one. The Montreal collective House of Pride can give you a dozen reasons why their show is more than that, starting with the superficial ones. "For one thing, you start to see us doing make-up on stage, and usually the facade of drag is a finished product," says Stephen Hues (aka LaReign). "We don’t lip-synch to somebody else’s songs," adds Garth Johnston (aka Gartina J). "We wrote our own songs, we sing our own songs, live on stage. It’s all-natural." "And we’re not telling anyone else’s story," finishes Martha Carter (aka Marta Marta). "The story actually comes right out of our own lives, our own experiences, and the fact that I’m there, as a biological woman, is already what we call ‘new millennium drag.’" House Opera, the show they bring to the High Performance Rodeo, is not about big wigs and fake boobs, they say. It’s about something deeper and that’s where the real difference lies. "We’re really into the natural body and really trying to transform ourselves from an inside place," Hues says. "Yes, there are transformations that are happening on the exterior, but from that we have an inner change as well, of our soul, of our being." "(We’re) trying to get people to think about gender, sexuality, diversity in new ways," Carter explains. "We try to weave in the concept of feminine power, and feminine power in individuals, as well as feminine power in the universe, and how actually the balance of feminine and masculine power is really what will allow the universe, the planet, to survive. Diversity in the ecosystem – our universe is our house of pride. Our body is our house of pride." "We should be proud of the world that we’re living in," Johnston adds. "Part of the message, also, is to take care of the world that we live in, instead of foolishly using it for our benefit." Sounds like an ambitious set of goals for a show that’s billed as a musical comedy, but the artists agree that the three years they’ve spent developing the show has helped them to clarify the big issues and get the message across in an entertaining way. "We’re performers and we want to express something important on stage," Carter says firmly. "We feel like, if you’re going to get up on stage, say something – don’t just sing another love song, you know? "We’re artists in our own right. I’m a choreographer, Garth’s a writer, Stephen’s a photographer – we all have our own individual visions as creators, and it’s been a huge project to bring those together and say something as a collective.... We couldn’t just say something light and fluffy. It’s time for something different, something new." Well, not entirely new, they admit. They recently returned from England, where they were welcomed into a culture that is still underground in Canada, but bursting into the mainstream in Europe. "I mean, it’s not like we’re the only ones thinking this way," Carter points out. "But we have the opportunity to get up on stage and bring it to a more mainstream audience, bring the underground overground, and maybe get people who never make it to those dance scenes and never make it to those alternative clubs. Let them get a little taste of what’s happening in that underground movement, because we all know that’s what’s coming." |
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